A reader asks about registries moving domains into premium pricing. Domain Name Wire reader Collin Love reached out to me recently with a question about premium domains in new top level domains. Premium domains are those priced higher by the registry. Most premium domains come with a higher initial registration …

Patent describes a method for transferring top level domains from one registry operator to another. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has published patent application 17/126103 (pdf) for “SafeMode management of domain transitioning.” The patent application describes a way of transitioning top level domains from one registry operator to another. …

Provide feedback about how domain transfers should work. ICANN is asking for feedback about a Working Group’s Initial Report that includes recommendations to change how domain transfers work. The Initial Report (pdf) proposes a slew of changes to inter-registrar domain transfers. The biggest one is to remove the Form of …

DomainMarket asks court to intervene after questionable UDRP. Mike Mann’s company DomainMarket, LLC has filed a lawsuit (pdf) after losing a UDRP for the domain name segurosmundial.com. Compañía Mundial de Seguros S.A., a Colombian insurance company that uses the domain name segurosmundial.com.co, filed the UDRP in March. A decision (pdf) …

Domain marketplace adds a credit card popular with business users. Sedo now accepts American Express. Photo courtesy American Express. Domain name marketplace Sedo has added six new payment methods, and it’s notable because one of them resolves a common gripe I hear about the platform: not accepting American Express. American …

Top level domain company Donuts changes its name and plans a significant marketing campaign. Don’t expect free donuts at the Donuts booth during the next domain conference: the domain name company announced today that it’s changing its name to Identity Digital. “This brand refresh is an exciting moment for our …

A yachting company took the top spot on Sedo’s end users sales this week. Earlier this month, Eric Borgos announced he sold yachts.com for $600,000. Now we know who bought it, as you’ll see below. Sedo had some other nice sales that I can’t chart as end users yet. Auto.ae …

Auction tops $10,000 with 11 days to go. .Xyz has become the de facto top level domain for web3 projects, and few words are as important to web3 as bitcoin. So an expired domain auction for bitcoin.xyz at Namecheap is worth watching. With nearly 11 days to go, the auction …

A .org domain led the charts. Newfold Digital’s domain marketplaces (NameJet and SnapNames) combined to sell 118 domains for $2,000 or more last month, totaling $541,000. The expired domain VIP.org led the way at $36,888. Here are some other notable sales: Portofino.com $35,333 – Portofino is an Italian village on …

The majority of the panel applies an interesting interpretation to UDRP. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published (pdf) an interesting UDRP decision for victron.com. The majority of the panel found in favor of Complainant Victron Energy B.V., which filed the case against domain investor Sarvix, Inc. Sarvix undertook research …

Two domain brokers talk about what they’re seeing in the market. Last week on the podcast I opined about what’s happening in the domain market and what might happen as the economy changes. In the interim, the markets continued to tank and the recession word keeps coming up. So today, …

Use this tool to get data for domains you already own. You can check your portfolio in ExpiredDomains.net using Bulk Domain Search. ExpiredDomains.net is an excellent tool for finding quality domain names listed for sale or expiring. I’ve often wished I could see the same data about my domain portfolio …

The registry already runs .inc. ICANN has published an assignment agreement for .llp, the latest of the domains that Frank Schilling’s UNR sold in an auction last year to transfer hands. Intercap Registry Inc. is the buyer. The domain is a fit for the company because it already owns the …

Man registered 14 domains including the famous Lego brand. Image courtesy Lego. Lego, the maker of the iconic connectable toy pieces, has won a case (pdf) against a cybersquatter who registered a bunch of web3-related domains with the famous brand in them. Most of the 14 names a connection to …

Seychelles company scoops up .help. ICANN has published the assignment agreement for .help, one of the domains Frank Schilling’s UNR auctioned last year. Innovation Service Ltd, a Seychelles company, acquired the top level domain. I can’t find any information about the company online, but the assignment agreement (pdf) lists Heng …

Domain system overseer disagrees with FDA rep’s complaints about Whois. ICANN CEO Göran Marby has sent a letter (pdf) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration disputing a presentation (pdf) one of its representatives made this month. Dan Burke, the U.S. FDA’s Chief of the Investigative Services Division, gave a …